The Winter War
by Asanaria Mason
Summary: The war has finally started. But, with all their preparation, are they truly ready for the consequences? May contain spoilers if you aren't up to date with the series. Contains character death and swearing.
1. Prologue

Hi all,

First of all I want to apologise for leaving this for so long. I had some major issues due to college, personal life and other things so I completely forgot about this fic and everything I planned to do with it. Luckily, most things are now sorted out and I've even started to rewrite things that I wasn't happy with etc.

However, it is very likely that I will not be posting them on this site. Also, if I do then I will also be posting under a different name. That name will be Asanaria or AsanariaMason. The main site that I have been looking at using is ficwad, but I'm still deciding.

The reasons I have been thinking about moving to another site is largely due to the fact that I don't believe many people are able to find this story (which is currently my only one here), and I am basing this on the fact that there is very little evidence of this. I.e, 0 reviews, favourites, etc.

Edit:- I have now managed to change my pen name. I have also decided that while I decide on what site to use, I will put up my rewrites here. Here's the prologue below.

Asanaria

Prologue

(Note - I do not own bleach. I only hold credit for my created characters and my own storyline ideas. At the start I have deliberately tried to be vague so that it will - I hope - be able to be considered canon up to a point. This may contain spoilers if you are not up to date with the anime, especially if you are still on a previous arc. Set at the end of and after the winter war.)

The Shinigami had finally defeated the Espada. Only Aizen, Ichimaru and Tousen were left. Ichimaru took a back seat from the fighting, preferring to watch as Tousen fell first. There had been an almost stalemate of sorts as Aizen and the Vizard each waited for the other to move, Aizen using it as a chance to rile them up as much as he could. It was then that Ichigo came through from Hueco Mundo with the rescue group, his tattered clothes being blown about by the wind.

Of course, the first thing he did was to attack Aizen, using Zangetsu at range – wanting to finish the battle as soon as he arrived. However, there was too much notice of his arrival and the attack only served to damage the buildings below.

Obviously, then the fight was on. Ichimaru simply stood and watched as the remaining shinigami able to fight all banded together against Aizen. Fighting side by side with the Vizard. Only Ichigo stood separate, biding his time, knowing that he had to finish the fight.

It was then that Ichimaru chose to strike. Ichigo was too focused on Aizen to notice Ichimaru's blade speeding towards him. It was lucky someone blocked Ichimaru and a group split off from Aizen to engage him. It took a while for them to bring him down, but eventually Aizen was the only one left. Many captains had already released their swords, most had been injured and some were no longer fighting. It seemed to Ichigo like hours had passed, waiting for Aizen to show an opening, and when he did…

"Getsuga Tensho!" Ichigo roared as the wave of black spirit energy swept towards Aizen, enveloping him and destroying buildings and rubble in it's wake.

The assembled group paused, hope on their faces, waiting for the dust cloud to settle.

As the dust began to retreat the first person they saw was a partially injured Aizen. Then their hearts fell even further. Aizen had drawn his sword, sneer apparent across his face. The rest of the shinigami were taken out one by one, falling to the buildings below in turn. Even Ichigo fell down, too injured and exhausted for even his hollow to take over, leaving a stumbling Captain Hitsugaya desparately attempting to fight.

Aizen sheathed his sword, as Captain Hitsugaya stumbled towards him. He knew he didn't need it. He quickly attacked with his bare hand, putting hardly any power into it as a barrier of flames appeared in front of it. A fire user, but not any of the shinigami here. They were all down, dying, or about to be killed by one of his followers. Who then was this?


	2. Judgement Day

Aizen paused as the barrier of flames appeared, before continuing and sending Captain Hitsugaya falling to the rubble beneath them.

"Interesting" he says quietly as a reiatsu flares up behind him "Who is this? I don't recognize them."

He turns and disappears from sight as he shunpos towards the location of the reiatsu. At the same time, Isshin catches Hitsugaya just before he hits the floor and takes him closer to Urahara's shouten as he mumbles incoherently about reiatsu.

"I know Toushirou. You might not know it but Hyorinmaru does." Isshin says as he starts using kido. "You can ask Hyorinmaru all about it as I heal you."

Isshin looks at the place Aizen is heading to, concern deep in his eyes before he turns back to Hitsugaya.

By this time, Aizen had reached a young girl with black hair. Her reiatsu surrounds her and makes it look as though she is at the centre of a bonfire. He reaches towards her unconscious body, the flames licking at his skin as he pushes her onto her back.

"A human? A child at that." A lopsided smirk appears on his face as he draws his sword again " How interesting."

Aizen casually swings his sword. She's more useful to him as a spirit than alive. Instead of killing her, he finds his sword blocked by someone's bare hand. He frowns as a female voice clearly commands him.

"No."

The voice is musical and speaks right to his soul, he struggles to keep to his feet. But it isn't spiritual pressure forcing him down, in fact he cannot feel any reiatsu from her at all. It's solely her voice that makes his body wish to kneel, to submit to her.

He raises his sword again and the small hand moves to his wrist, the slight fingers clasping gently… before he is thrown away from the girl that interested him.

"No matter" he finds himself struggling to say "she is not important."

Aizen glares at the woman in front of him, a cloak obscuring her apart from a lock of hair that escapes her hood. He looks around him and grins, calculations running through his head, before beginning a kido incantation.

The woman tilts her head to one side and simply says the same one word command as before

"No."

This simple word causes him to stop. But the spiritual pressure that she releases causes him to be pinned to the ground.

"The Key is Not Yours to See, Own or Command." The woman starts slowly walking towards him, straightening her posture.

"How…? " Aizen's normally bland, smiling face is now creased with tension, and his brown eyes have a gleam of anger in them instead of seemingly reflecting a blank sky. "You cannot stop me."

"I Said No. I Meant No." She simply states as she binds him with a heavy kido chain.

"Who are you?"

The woman casts off her cloak, revealing a strange purple outfit with white and gold embroidery. Her long hair tumbles to her waist, some tied back in a bow, and the single lock by her face is caught by the wind.

"Me?"

The woman pulls Aizen to his feet and he stares at the grey and blue eyes before him while some ornate black gates raise up behind him. Skeletal black hands and drawn faces of pain and anguish cover this gate, almost as if it were created from suffering itself. The gate to hell.

"Today Aizen Sōsuke. Today I Am Your Judge and Your Jury. Now I Take You to Meet Your Executioner."


	3. End of The War

The gates slowly creaked open allowing the roar of the swirling mass of reishi to course through the bones of all nearby. The same skeletal arms and hands depicted on the gate seemed to come to life within the gate, reaching out into Karakura, the heat of the bones causing steam to appear around them.

Out from the reishi however, a man walked out. His long hair was pulled back into a high ponytail. His garments were of the same design and colour as the woman's, except where it came to the embellishment. The embroidery on his tunic was black and silver. Then he looked up and you could see the similarity between them.

Both had the same shape to their face, the same oval hairline. The same shape of mouth and the same small nose. Their eyes were perfectly placed on their faces, both grey, hers with blue tones and his with brown tones, his eyes as sharp as hers were gentle. They seemed the same but still opposites, two halves of the same whole. Twins.

His voice was also as hollow as hers was musical, but both had the very essence of command etched into their tone.

"Aizen Sōusuke. I Am Your Executioner."

Aizen was pulled along by the chain, yet he was smiling.

"We witness each other." They spoke together, their voices a curious combination.

"Aizen Sōusuke. Your charge is High Treason, the punishment for which is death." She turned and faced him

The smile on Aizen's face disappeared as she took his sword from him.

"You are found Guilty." She held her hand up to him to prevent him from speaking "You have no defence and your actions have been observed for months. You are not allowed to speak."

At this she snapped apart his zanpakutō. For the first time, shock appeared on Aizen's face; followed by fear as he realised this time he had truly lost.

"Your zanpakutō is part of you and is therefore also guilty and receives punishment." She passed the pieces of zanpakutō to her brother "Aizen Sōusuke, you are sentenced to hell along with your zanpakutō - who will become dust."

"Heard and witnessed." her brother stated as he held the broken zanpakutō out to the gate.

The skeletal arms grabbed the pieces and began to tear it apart before their eyes. Aizen looked on in horror as more and more hands clawed at it, the screaming of his sword only audible to him. Eventually, the parts were so small you couldn't even see what they fought over.

"Aizen Sōusuke, your sentence is for eternity and begins now. Your zanpakutō is already serving the sentence."

At this he pulled Aizen to the gates and pushed him through to the waiting hands. They tore at Aizen as they had his zanpakutō but he was not pulled apart. The man walked through freely, however. Any arms that tried to touch him disintegrated as he began to pull the doors closed.

"Heard and witnessed" his sister declared as the doors shut with a deep resounding bang, and then dissipated.

The woman descended over the ruins of the copy of the town, landing before the still intact clinic. There she was greeted by a large contigent of shinigami, headed by the captain commander. Behind them was Ichimaru Gin, who was injured and held in a barrier. The captain commander got as far as "You" before Isshin Kurosaki interrupted and dropped to his hands and knees in front of her.

"My sincerest apologies General. I was unable to fulfil my duties. I accept my punishment"

The captain commander looked fuming, a low growl coming from the back of his throat. But at Isshin's words he fell silent.

"Isshin Kurosaki. You fulfilled your duties as best as you were able. No-one can be in two places at once. In fact, you showed remarkable judgement especially when someone emotionally closer to you was also in danger. You are to continue with your orders as before. First though, you need to deal with your daughter."

She smiled over at a very angry Karin who was being taken care of by Captain Unohana before she opened an ornate gateway and walked through it, completely ignoring the Captain Commander.

"Damn right! When were you and Ichi-nii going to tell me that you were a shinigami too? And when were you going to teach me properly how to beat up hollows so I could protect Yuzu when you both disappear again?" Karin screamed at Isshin as she punched him in the stomach over and over

He simply stood there and took it, a sad and serious expression on his face as Ichigo stumbled back, first surprised and glaring until he saw Karin and copied the look on his Father's face.

After Karin had finished screaming, Yamamoto looked as if he was going to call everyone's attention until Unohana cleared her throat. They all looked round at her, smiling sweetly - a healing kido active on an injured shinigami collapsed in front of her.

"There are still many many injured shinigami here. I do hope that my presence isn't stopping you from realising the lack of medical personnel and stopping you from healing, you must simply be completely unaware of your surroundings."

The colour drained from everyone's faces as they sprinted to the nearest injured person there, all bar the ones keeping Ichimaru contained and Yamamoto who travelled back to Soul Society.

All Karin could think was 'That is one scary lady'


	4. Calm after the Storm

Even Isshin ran off, with a rueful glance at Karin as he did so. Ichigo walked up to her and ruffled her hair.

"You're ok Karin" a slight smile turned the corners of his lips "I'm glad. There's still some things to clear up though"

He left Karin standing there, speeding towards the hollows and espada left fighting. With Aizen's death the espada were fighting for survival now, trying to escape as soon as they were able. Karin could only stand and watch as he attacked, his shinigami robes rags that held resolutely from his body.

"Ichi-ni. When did you get so brave Ichi-ni? When did you and Tou-san leave us behind?"

Unohana placed her hand gently on Karin's shoulder. The girl looked lost standing there, her dark eyes regarded the sky longingly. Unohana let her mull things over

"Kurosaki-san?"

"I'm alright, but what about the town? The buildings are collapsed and there's rubble everywhere you look ..." Karin paused as she looked around "Actually, where is everyone?"

Unohana smiled kindly and led Karin inside the clinic.

"Thanks to Urahara, we managed to move everyone away in time. Though I'm not quite sure how his technique works, I've been told everyone is safe. If it helps I can ask him to explain it later but first I have some questions for you."

Unohana stopped in the foyer and released Karin, folding her hands in her haori as normal.

"Urahara, I should have known he was behind this. But what questions could you need to ask me? I don't even know what's going on here or who everyone is!"

"Ah, I am Unohana Retsu. All you need to know is that I am head of Division 4. The healers. Like the doctors you have in this world."

Karin glanced round at the blank and completely empty room in shock

"Um, nice to meet you Unohana sensei. Or is it dai-sensei? All our medical supplies seem to have disappeared. I'm sorry I can't really help much."

"They should all return when we move the people back but we can easily bring bandages and such from Soul Society. We do need a temporary place to keep the injured however, and Urahara's Shouten is not the best for this. What space do you have clear that we can use for treatment?"

"Oh, you just need treatment space? Um, sure." Karin led Unohana around the hall, pointing at the rooms when she mentioned them "We need to keep the consultation rooms and at least one of the large rooms for human patients but the other two large rooms should be ok for you to use. When everything comes back there's four beds in here and stuff. That's all the space in the clinic so only really space for major injuries. I'm sure you can use space in the house for the ones with only minor injuries. Anyone who just needs sleep can use Ichi-ni's room. This one is the room I share with Yuzu."

Karin pushed the door open, as a baseball bat whirled towards her face.


	5. Realisation

Karin reacted quickly. Ducking down and rolling under the bat she knocked the person holding it to the floor. The bat fell to the floor with a clunk, momentum carrying it out of sight. It was then that Karin saw who her assailant was.

"Neh? Yuzu! Why the hell did you swing a bat at me? How long have you been here? Are you alright? How did you get back here without a building landing on you?"

Karin's interrogation ceased abruptly as Yuzu launched herself at her twin and threw her arms around her. Immediately she was crying loudly into Karin's t-shirt. Karin just sat with her on the floor and held her as she cried, quietly reassuring Yuzu that all was well.

"Karin-chan! I was so scared. I woke up when the building we were in started shaking and then I ran here and there were explosions everywhere and buildings were falling down and everyone had disappeared. I was looking for you and Otou-san and Ichi-ni because you weren't there when I woke up and dad was back at the clinic but I thought that maybe ichi-ni had come back again."

"Shhh Yuzu. Everyone is fine. Ichi-ni and Otou-san went to try and help because some people got hurt. I saw them and they're ok too. Just calm down Yuzu."

After a few minutes of crying Yuzu fell asleep in her twin's arms.

"Gomen Unohana sensei. This is my sister Yuzu. She can't see hollow or shinigami so I had to stretch the truth a bit. I'll get her to sleep somewhere else so you can use our room too."

"I understand Karin-san. We are very grateful for all your help. If Yuzu-san needs to sleep here then we will make sure to keep her space clear."

Just before Unohana left, a familiar voice came from behind Karin.

"Indeed. Yuzu-chan has been very brave. I also offer my humble shop to be used by those recovering. The small basement can also be occupied by those who simply need to gather their strength."

"Thank you Urahara-san. I will leave these girls in your care now."

Urahara and Unohana bowed to each other and the medical shinigami seemed to disappear in front of Karin's eyes. Urahara just got his fan out and looked down at the twins on the floor.

"So Yuzu and Karin woke up and stayed here hn? Curious, very interesting. Well," he looked at Yuzu "both were awake in any case."

"What do you mean? How did you know I was unconscious? Why is it so interesting that I stayed here too? I do live here."

"No no, Karin. You don't understand. When we moved the inhabitants of Karakura to take them away from this fight, you should have moved too."

"Where did you move them anyway? I'm sure they would have noticed"

Urahara feigned shock at her words and swiftly launched into an (obviously prepared) monologue explaining his technique, and adding several embellishments about how great he was compared to Soul Society and how he was the only one who could do it. However, about halfway through his speech Karin came to a sudden realisation. She gasped and laid Yuzu down gently before climbing out of the window, onto the roof, and screaming at the top of her voice

"OTOU-SAN! ICHIGO!"


	6. Kurosakis together again

"OTOU-SAN! ICHIGO!"

Her voice carried a long distance, causing several shinigami to look round, including two who were currently ignoring the hollows around them and having a shouting match. As soon as Isshin and Ichigo heard Karin's panicked shriek there was silence. Both moved so quickly towards her that they left trails of afterimages in their wake.

Of course, the shriek had also woken Yuzu. So when they arrived at the clinic they were greeted with Yuzu yelling at Karin to get off the roof, especially when there were monsters in the sky, and an uptight Urahara who was complaining about his greatness being overlooked.

"Karin! What's wrong? Why is Yuzu here?" Ichigo helped her to climb down from the roof and followed her through the window while Isshin took the more conventional route through the house."

"What do you mean 'what are we doing here'? We live here! Besides there's more important stuff to sort out!" Karin yelled at him and started pacing

"Um, Karin-chan? Who are you talking to? Is there a ghost there again?" Yuzu held her sister by the arm

"Yuzu? You can't see him? Either of them?" Karin gestured towards Ichigo and Isshin, who had just stepped into the room.

"Iie, well. It's strange. When I look in some places its really blurry. I keep hearing roars and other strange noises too. It's like an out of tune radio."

"Wait, you can see hollows?"

"Hollows?"

"The big monsters outside, with the masks and some looking like people!"

"Some looking like people? Iie, but I can see the monsters. It's like the blurry thing that attacked us before right Karin?"

Karin nodded. Behind her the two men looked guilty and ashamed. They were supposed to protect them from the hollows, from all danger. Yet they hadn't.

"Anyway, you two get back to being visible again! When bucket head brings all the people back with his 'oh so great' technique, we need to prepare for the hospital overflow!"

Karin spun around to face Isshin.

"Not only will we have injured shinigami in the house and two of the treatment rooms, we will need to treat humans too!"

"But Karin, there hasn't been any notice from the hospital of a big accident."

"That's because of the idiot behind you!" Karin pointed at Urahara who was leaning on the doorframe behind Isshin. "It's his technique that caused the problem!"

"Now really Karin-chan, my technique is magnificent! Sending everyone to sleep so they don't know what's happened and so they don't wander off or get hurt"

"BAKA!" Karin yelled and pulled him down by his shirt so that he was looking directly at her "Everyone walking down or up stairs would have fallen. If they were on escalators it would have been worse. There have probably been too many car crashes and other injuries to count because you forgot one simple thing. Machines Don't Sleep."


	7. Machines Don't Sleep

"Machines Don't Sleep"

The words seemed to reverberate around the room as everyone took in the full extent of the danger.

Ichigo started to follow Karin's example, screaming at Urahara, but was stopped by his dad who simply called for two people, making Urahara look terrified.

"Yoruichi! Unohana!"

A smirk appeared on their faces as the two appeared in the room and Urahara was surrounded. Isshin quickly explained the situation to the two and they dealt with him quickly. Covered in bruises and bandages, he was sent back to the Shouten with strict orders to prepare gigai and equipment for everyone present as well as almost the whole of 4th division, who he would also be transporting from Soul Society as soon as possible. Not only that but he would also be doing it for free.

Unohana agreed to allocate some of her division to help Isshin before leaving to make arrangements. Then Isshin turned to Ishida, who had been dragged there along with all his other friends he had found, and begged him to be the doctor in charge in the second room. The rest were then also commandeered into service, some as nurses to help in the treatment rooms and getting supplies, some as runners for messages, some as receptionists, and others for lifting and carrying injured into either the clinic or the house. They would be supervised by Yuzu (who would look after the humans in the clinic) and Karin (who would look after the shinigami in the house). Ichigo was pushed unceremoniously out to fight hollows, on the basis that he wasn't any use as healing staff.

Elsewhere, Yoruichi and Soi Fon stood surrounded by the Onmitsukidō and the remaining seated officers in division 2. They all watched as the towers descended and Urahara reversed his technique. Gradually, the real town phased back with the people and accident after accident appeared. They stood unphased, their mission was simple. To defend all plus souls from hollows and cleanse them as quickly as possible. It was clear why they had been chosen for this task as they jumped down to pavement level to begin their mission. Speed.

As they split up and sped to send along the souls Yoruichi regarded the devastation, a single stray thought passing through her mind.

Kisuke, what have you done?

It was a thought shared by many, especially Ryuken Ishida who cursed all shinigami from where he stood on the top floor of the hospital. He turned to the desk in his office and picked up the phone.

The phone rang at the Kurosaki clinic. Isshin picked it up while Uryu helped him into his coat.

"Understood." was the only thing he said, swiftly followed by the phone slamming down.

"What overflow will be sent here?" Uryu said, pulling on a matching coat

"Anything more serious than a fracture, bar surgery. The first cases will be here in a few minutes. Priority is our discretion, Yuzu deals with that."

"Yuzu isn't squeamish?"

"Heh" Isshin grinned "Her own injuries she cries like a baby, anyone else's no problem. Karin's the opposite."

The two nodded at each other, sirens loud in the background, and then walked from Isshin's office into pandemonium.


	8. Pandemonium

The distinct tang of copper was in the air as they moved to the treatment rooms. There, they met their teams, assigned by Yuzu, made up of members of 4th Division. Yuzu herself sat on reception and arranged the injured by priority, as well as filling out medical forms for her father and Uryu to save them valuable treatment time.

Meanwhile, Unohana worked to clear the 3rd room of injured shinigami. The closet having been turned into a senkaimon, all the critically injured were moved into the 4th Division barracks as soon as they were stabilized. She had all her seated officers in the room with her, bar her lieutenant who was helping Karin in the house and Hanatarou. She also had Inoue.

Outside, the battle still raged. The death toll in Karakura had called out many hollows. While Soi Fon and Yoruichi's team were dispatching the plus souls as fast as they could, the hollows still came in waves. Working alongside the cleansing team were an offensive and a defensive team. The defensive team stood with Captain Kuchiki, their duty to put up barriers in case any hollows got past the offensive team. The offensive team were working as the front line.

There weren't many of them at the front line but there were at least double in the house. Karin felt like they were fighting a losing battle. As soon as a shinigami was sent to the battlefield, another took their place in the injury this time, most of th captains had travelled back to soul society, unseated officers taking their place. Currently 3rd Division were on the rotation with 5th prepped to continue once they collapsed from reiatsu exhaustion. As soon as they did collapse from reiatsu exhaustion, Keigo and Mizuro would carry them to the shouten on a stretcher to sleep it off in the basement or go back to soul society. With all the chaos in the town it didn't seem strange for them to be running around with the empty stretcher and then coming back to the clinic with it full of medical supplies or blankets.

Eventually, Unohana and her team managed to clear the emergency room and the whole group travelled back. Isane was then given a gigai and was introduced as a doctor, on loan for the crisis. Yuzu barely glanced up from the paperwork before directing her to the room and sending people in. Hanatarou was running around outside with the offensive and defensive team. The plan was that he would let the gauge on his sword fill and take out more hollows when it released, as well as being able to offer healing while they were brought in for healing.

However, this didn't stop Ichigo from being sent back in time and time again. The 5th time it happened Karin decided she'd had enough. She bandaged him for the last time before forcing him into his body and sending him to fill in forms for Yuzu in the clinic. This served 3 purposes. First, it gave Yuzu a break and meant that she could organise things more efficiently. Second, it kept him out of the way. Third, it was Karin's version of a unique form of torture as punishment for not listening and generally being an idiot.

In the end Isane's room was used for patients awaiting transportation to the hospital or back home and as a recovery room. Gradually the shinigami filtered back to Soul Society as the line of wounded dissapated. Only a few stayed, some to keep the remaining Hollows at bay, 3 to rest as they were badly injured and waiting for Inoue to recover her reiatsu. Hitsugaya and Ukitake in Ichigo's room, Matsumoto in Karin's bed.

Chad carried Inoue up to the twins' room after she had exhausted herself. Keigo and Mizuro were passed out on the sofa and the kitchen was filled with boxes - gifts from grateful patients and their families. The floor was lined with futons, one already occupied by Rukia. Downstairs Kira and Karin were still treating in the living room.

Those left standing worked through to the evening before closing the clinic, the hospital finally able to take more cases. Isshin accompanied Isane back to Soul Society so he could speak with the Captain Commander. An exhausted Yuzu gave out cup ramen to everyone who was still awake, though she fell asleep halfway through eating hers and was carried to bed by Ichigo.

The night went on. Karin and Kira as medics, Captain Kuckiki sleeping next to Rukia on a futon, Renji and Captain Komamura trading places outside.


	9. Komamura

Captain Komamura ended up back in the house time and time again but they couldn't stop him from continuing to take his turn outside. This time was his last.

Blood was everywhere as Karin tied a tourniquet on his upper arm. Though this wasn't detracting from the flow coming out from where his elbow used to be.

"Kira!" Karin called him from where he was resting, face down on the table "You need to be here!"

Though Karin deliberately kept her voice even, Kira heard the panic beneath those words. It took only moments for Kira to be at Karin's side, using Kido to staunch the blood so that Karin could start bandaging his other wounds. She was about to declare that he would be fine when he started coughing up blood.

Karin went white as she reached for the oxygen mask and some bandages.

"I think it's his lung" she placed the oxygen mask in his hand and quickly dressed the stump so Kira could move "You can probably tell better than me."

Karin began bandaging as the, now familiar, green glow of kido appeared around Kira's hands. The expression on his face told Karin that she had been right, and he was also starting to show how tired he was.

Kira only hesitated for a moment before running out of the room and shouting back to her that he was going to wake Inoue. Karin was left standing next to Komamura with an oxygen mask, trying to keep him breathing. However, before they got back Komamura was already starting to dissapate. Reishi separated into the air, the last few floating away as Kira and Inoue ran through the door.

Not knowing what to do, Inoue and Kira ended up waking everyone in the house. Eventually Captain Kuchiki woke up enough to get everyone to stop talking over each other. Finally he got the full story from Kira and Captain Ukitake went back to Soul Society to report to the Captain Commander. When Yuzu thought all the talking had finally stopped she tugged on Ichigo's shirt.

"Oi, Ichi-nii. Where's Karin?"

* * *

I know this one is quite a bit shorter than my previous ones but I couldn't think of any way to expand it.

I would also like to thank metsfan101 for reviewing and Forbiden Light for favouriting (probably not a real word but meh).

Thank you to all who have been reading so far. I would really appreciate some feedback from all of you about my writing. For example, am I going through the storyline too quickly? Also, if you have any requests for things that you'd like me to include (that don't clash with the plot I already have) then please let me know and I'll try to fit it in. You can pm me or you can use the forums that I've set out to discuss different things.

My next Chapters should be back to normal length or perhaps longer and I'll try to update asap.


	10. Memories in the Dark

Karin sat on the ledge she had found, curled up and hugging her knees. She was still covered in blood, most of it Captain Komamura's. She had wandered around the town in a daze, not registering the destruction around her. Remnants of car wrecks, burnt out husks that used to be buildings and everywhere the stench of blood. Any people around ignored her, they were unable to see the blood congealed clothes. Their eyes empty and bland when facing in her direction, caught up in their horror filled minds.

Karin felt numb as the memories of how she had got there filtered through her mind, looking up at the sky. Stuck on a ledge halfway up a cliff, alone. Again. The stars were her only company, barely enough to stop the sharp pain from overflowing into tears. The gentle illumination of the moon surrounded her, such insubstantial comfort as she thought back to his last moments. She knew she would have to go back eventually, she knew she had to remember. She had a message to give, she was the only soul who had heard the dying Captain's last words.

_He had struggled to speak, fluid filling his lungs. He forced the words out, despite all her berating. Brashly telling him to shut up, to obey _her_ orders._

A bitter smirk slowly formed on her face.

_She didn't care how many people called him Captain, he wasn't allowed to talk and he wasn't allowed to die. She had told him so, arrogantly, smugly declaring that he was _going_ to be ok because he wasn't _allowed _to do anything else. Komamura had smiled at that. He even chuckled and told her that based on her logic she should call him Sajin._

Her smirk disappeared. Her chest strained with pain and her eyes stung as she remembered what happened next.

"_Little Kurosaki" he had said, his voice had a slight gurgle to it – testimony of the blood that filled his lungs._

"_I am at peace now. I am content to move on knowing that Tousen is at rest and that his justice was served against Aizen. I cannot think of a more fitting punishment than to suffer in hell for his crimes." He started choking, blood splattering against the ill fitting oxygen mask._

"_Much for fitting than killing him...as vengence for what he did to Tou- Tousen and Iba." His voice grew quiet, obviously struggling as his lungs lost the battle to keep him alive. He spoke haltingly, choking every few words._

"_But I was proud, so proud to fight alongside everyone. T-Tell them that. Even though we... we could have fought against on...one another, like Aizen planned us to. We didn't."_

_He reached over to hold Karin's hand. He knew he was going to die. He just didn't want to do it alone. He wanted someone there to be with him_

"_I'm not leaving Sajin-san. I told you, you're not allowed to die. But I guess I'll tell them while you sleep and rest. I'll bully Ichi-nii into taking me there." Karin had held his hand tight in hers and they smiled at each other_

"_Please Karin... also give them my thanks. And... Hisagi... and Kira, tell them, someday, they will... they will be good Cap- good Captains."_

That was when he had started to go fuzzy. It was like a television screen, the coloured static when the channel wasn't tuned in properly. Giving the barest outline, his voice also changed. Cutting out like they were on different frequencies. Then he had turned into reishi. Her hand felt empty and the reishi hovered and floated out. It was like watching dandelion seeds floating away in the wind, before they got smaller and disappeared. As the last few floated out of her hand, Inoue and Kira had rushed into the room.

When they took in the room Kira collapsed to his knees and Karin had slipped away while Inoue was comforting him.

Then Karin had wandered towards the football pitch – until she remembered that it was closed off due to the damage the hollow had caused. She paused, feeling lost as she looked around. She saw the fence that one of the other shinigami sat on when he was in Karakura. Karin climbed over the fence, intending to sit on it like she'd seen him do before. But she had slipped, the ground wet from the rain that she hadn't realised was falling.

She lost her footing and rolled down the steep incline until she had been stopped by the ledge she was on now. She was covered in small cuts and grazes, but she ignored them and just stared at the moon. She sat there, in pain, alone in the darkness. She hugged her knees, slowly rocking back and forth. The tears gradually falling, her reiatsu fluctuating, as close by a hollow roared.


	11. Explanations

Meanwhile, at the Kurosaki residence, a search party was being organised... sort of... ish. Well, what was actually happening from Yuzu's point of view was rather strange. She sat at the table looking bemused as Ichigo was arguing with... thin air.. apparently. Not only this, but he was struggling against that same thin air. As if he were somehow chained to it.

Being the sensible sibling of the family though, she was handling it quite well. So she sipped her tea and waited for an opportune moment to interrupt her brother's rant, while slightly confused as to why the ghosts that came in the room suddenly disappeared and making a note to herself to get some more sleep because the whole room was fuzzy. Unless indoor mirages were possible?

"Ichi-nii, you're not going to be able to find Karin by screaming like a madman and fighting with thin air. Otou-san should be back from the hospital soon, when he gets back I'm sure we can all go together. It'll be morning soon."

As soon as Yuzu spoke everything went quiet, even the buzzing in her ears went and she smiled. On the other hand Ichigo looked round the room and saw the surprised looks on the faces of the assembled shinigami. Everyone bar the two Captains, whose faces were blank as usual.

To Ichigo the room looked quite different. Byakuya and Toushirou were both sitting at the table opposite Yuzu. Ikkaku was lounging on the floor, lazily performing konso on any plus souls that came close enough to him to bother. Asegawa and Rangiku, the only ones who had apparently realised that Yuzu was in the room, were discussing what clothes and make up would suit Yuzu best. Rukia had been alternating between beating him up and arguing with him, while Kira and Renji held him back. Though they had been struggling until Byakuya had interceded with a kido and six rods of light surrounded Ichigo at his waist.

"Uno..." Ichigo started, turning red "Sorry Yuzu, I forgot that you couldn't see ghosts. There's a lot around right now and they...um...they-" Ichigo looked around for some help and Rukia sprinted for her gigai. "They...they're following me." He smiled awkwardly, hoping that this would be enough for her.

"Hmmnph. All the ghosts that I see keep disappearing...like that one." she pointed towards the wall where Ikkaku was just about to perform konso.

The plus soul looked round confused before the sword hilt met his forehead.

"I told Karin that I could see them earlier, just like the monsters."she shrugged as Rukia came to the doorway "So stop lying to me. Now dawn is in an hour and we both need some sleep. You're obviously so tired you're hallucinating, and my vision is fuzzy all around the house and I've got a headache from hearing things and for some reason there's too many futon's out and I don't know who slept in them."

Ichigo immediately looked down, the guilt clear in his eyes.

"Maybe we should do what Yuzu says." Rukia smiled sadly looking at Ichigo. "If we wait until dawn then we can get more people to help. We can find her more quickly that way, look in more places."

"Maybe we should. Then you can tell me when you started seeing ghosts while we look? Neh Yuzu?" Ichigo broke out of the kido, walking over to Yuzu and hugging her.

"Arigatou Rukia-nee. It won't take long to get her anyway. I already know roughly where she is. She'll be fine if she avoids the monsters."

"You know where Karin is? What monsters? What do they look like? Why didn't you tell me?" Ichigo held her shoulders and looked at Yuzu intently at the same time as Byakuya looked at Rukia questioningly.

"Rukia-nee? Why does the human call you Rukia-nee." Byakuya glared at Ichigo

"Nii-sama, it's nothing like that. It's just because they're younger than me. I think."

Yuzu looked at Rukia strangely before turning back to Ichigo.

"Yes Ichi-nii, the coloured monsters with white masks that keep on roaring. But, I always know where Karin is and if she's ok. I didn't tell you because we were in the clinic and you were hurt. Karin told me to stay away from the monsters and to call you if I needed help when I told her earlier. But Karin's ok, she's probably upset. She's like this after we visit Oka-san at the cemetary. Anyway, she's..." Ichigo's face was awash with emotion as Yuzu concentrated, staring into space "she's near the park... no... the football pitch... I...I can't. It's difficult for some reason but I know she's near there somewhere." she sniffed and tears began to fill her eyes.

Rukia hugged Yuzu, who began to cry "It's okay Yuzu, you can help us when we go out looking. You're right, I'm sure we just need some more sleep." she said softly, before looking at Ichigo "Why didn't you tell Yuzu and Karin about the hollows before? You already knew that Karin could see spirits so why didn't you tell them to run away from them?"

"Rukia-nee can see ghosts too?" Yuzu asked quietly, looking at both of them "Is that why Rukia-nee and Ichi-nii go out a lot? To help the ghosts?" she looked at them, her eyes red rimmed and her face slightly blotchy where she had been crying

"A crying face is so unbeau-" Asegawa was cut off by Rukia and Ichigo's united shout

"Shut Up!"

Ichigo turned back again, only to have a sword aimed between his eyes

"What is the meaning of this Kurosaki Ichigo. Why do 'Rukia-nee and Ichi-nii' go out a lot?" Byakuya glared down at Ichigo, who was sitting on the floor from where he had been talking to Yuzu.

"Nii-sama! Please put your sword away! I've been helping Ichigo with his duties, that's all. I promise!" Rukia bowed and pushed Ichigo back

"Rukia-nee? Ichi-nii? What's going on. Have you both been lying to me?" Yuzu began to sniff again as unshed tears gathered, misting up her eyes

"No Yuzu! I can see spirits too. Let me explain." Rukia glanced around the room looking for help, kicking Ichigo further away from Byakuya

"Oi Midget! That hurt! What did you kick me for?" Ichigo shouted

Rukia ignored him and settled down in front of Yuzu. She produced some crayons and a notebook from somewhere and began to draw.

"Kuchiki-taichou. The human had to be given a cover story for why Rukia-san was staying here. They extended their hospitality and wished to make her feel welcome, which is probably why they speak as if she is an older sister. Especially since their mother passed away at a young age. Female role models are important to them." Rangiku bowed until she had finished speaking.

"I apologise for my sub-ordinate's forwardness Kuchiki-taichou. However, the humans do seem less formal than in Soul Society. Even when staying with Inoue-san I am spoken to with familiarity." Toushirou guided Rangiku to Renji and Kira

"Understood Hitsugaya-taichou. The input is valued and I will consider it in future when the humans are speaking." Byakuya nodded and the Captains watched the scene carefully.

"Yuzu, Ichigo and I are still talking to spirits but you can't see these ones. You see, there are two basic types of spirit." Rukia held up a drawing

"Rukia, my sister doesn't need to see your crappy dra-argh!" Ichigo began until Rukia interrupted him with a well aimed crayon, hitting the middle of his forehead.

"As I was saying, there are two types of spirit. The good spirits and the bad spirits. The good spirits are called plus souls and the bad spirits are called hollows. Hollows are the monsters you've been seeing."

Rukia turned to another page and Ichigo had a strange feeling that she was using the same drawings that she had used to explain things to him.

"First I will explain the hollows because they're dangerous."

Yuzu nodded and looked closely at the pictures

"Hollows can be many different shapes and sizes, but all of them have a hole in their chest. Hollows are normally not intelligent, all they can do is roar. However, they eat souls. Most of the time these are dead souls but sometimes they try eating people too. If they eat souls then they get stonger. Normally they roar when they've seen someone they want to eat."

"The hollows are scary. Rukia-nee is so formal."

Rukia smiled and nodded before continuing

"Plus souls are the good souls. They normally have something keeping them here, like a family member or something. It is not good for them to be here for too long because they can turn into a hollow if they get too sad. All plus souls are meant to go to the afterlife, which is a place called soul society."

"I like Rukia-nee's pictures. They're very helpful."

"The last thing is that some of the souls are stronger than others. If they are stronger then it is harder for humans to see or hear them. So there are still spirits here but you can only see the ones that are weaker."

Yuzu nodded and smiled. "I'm just happy that I can finally see ghosts like you, Ichi-nii and Karin-chan."

* * *

Sorry if this is really bad. I know it's not the best I could do but I found it really hard to write and it didn't come out quite right.

I'd also like to say thank you to metsfan101 and -it-is-all-good for reviewing. All your feedback is greatly appreciated. I've also set up some forums if you have any questions so that you don't have to wait until I next upload to get an answer.

Thanks also to kazza-spexy for adding me to your story alerts.

I hope you're all enjoying this and I'm updating it quick enough for you.

Also, if you have any suggestions for chapter titles other than what I've put down then please let me know. If I choose your suggestion then I'll put your username next to the chapter title. I also have a poll up about something that I'd like you all to vote on. The fates of Toushirou and Karin fall in your hands! Kinda... maybe.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you.


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